1 And now, brethren, I appeal to you by God’s mercies to offer up your bodies as a living sacrifice, consecrated to God and worthy of his acceptance; this is the worship due from you as rational creatures.[1] 2 And you must not fall in with the manners of this world; there must be an inward change, a remaking of your minds, so that you can satisfy yourselves what is God’s will, the good thing, the desirable thing, the perfect thing. 3 Thus, in virtue of the grace that is given me, I warn every man who is of your company not to think highly of himself, beyond his just estimation, but to have a sober esteem of himself, according to the measure of faith which God has apportioned to each. 4 Each of us has one body, with many different parts, and not all these parts have the same function; 5 just so we, though many in number, form one body in Christ, and each acts as the counterpart of another. 6 The spiritual gifts we have differ, according to the special grace which has been assigned to each. If a man is a prophet, let him prophesy as far as the measure of his faith will let him.[2] 7 The administrator must be content with his administration, the teacher, with his work of teaching, 8 the preacher, with his preaching.[3] Each must perform his own task well; giving alms with generosity, exercising authority with anxious care, or doing works of mercy smilingly.

9 Your love must be a sincere love; you must hold what is evil in abomination, fix all your desire upon what is good. 10 Be affectionate towards each other, as the love of brothers demands, eager to give one another precedence. 11 I would see you unwearied in activity, aglow with the Spirit, waiting like slaves upon the Lord; 12 buoyed up by hope, patient in affliction, persevering in prayer; 13 providing generously for the needs of the saints, giving the stranger a loving welcome. 14 Bestow a blessing on those who persecute you; a blessing, not a curse. 15 Rejoice with those who rejoice, mourn with the mourner. 16 Live in harmony of mind, falling in with the opinions of common folk, instead of following conceited thoughts; never give yourselves airs of wisdom.[4]

17 Do not repay injury with injury; study your behaviour in the world’s sight as well as in God’s.[5] 18 Keep peace with all men, where it is possible, for your part. 19 Do not avenge yourselves, beloved; allow retribution to run its course; so we read in scripture, Vengeance is for me, I will repay, says the Lord.[6] 20 Rather, feed thy enemy if he is hungry, give him drink if he is thirsty; by doing this, thou wilt heap coals of fire upon his head.[7] 21 Do not be disarmed by malice; disarm malice with kindness.[8]

[1] ‘Your bodies’, that is, ‘yourselves’; but perhaps, for the benefit of the uncircumcised Gentiles, St Paul is specially careful to insist on the need of consecrating our bodily powers to God.

[2] ‘As far as the measure of his faith will let him’; this has commonly been rendered ‘according to the rule of faith’, but neither the Greek nor the Latin text justifies this interpretation. The sense is determined by verse 3 above.

[3] ‘The administrator’; the word here used is the technical term for a deacon, but the meaning of it here is probably more general.

[4] ‘Falling in with the opinions of common folk’; some would render ‘be content with a humble position’; but it does not appear how the verb can have this meaning.

[5] The words ‘as well as in God’s’ are wanting in most Greek manuscripts.

[6] Deut. 32.35. For ‘allow retribution to run its course’ others would prefer to translate, ‘make way before the anger’ (of your opponent), or ‘give space for your anger’ (to simmer down).

[7] Prov. 25.21. St Augustine and other commentators tell us that the coals of fire are a metaphorical description of the shame and remorse which our enemy feels at our kind usage of him.

[8] If we avenge ourselves, we Christians are converted to the enemy’s point of view, instead of converting him to ours.